


Tea Leaves and Thieves

by LostBlogger_JenBleu



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: ADHD OC, Air Nomads (Avatar), Dragons, Earth Kingdom (Avatar), Earthbending & Earthbenders, Fire Nation (Avatar), Healing, Journey, M/M, Revenge, Water Tribe(s) (Avatar), travelling
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2018-12-17
Packaged: 2019-09-21 13:39:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17044748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LostBlogger_JenBleu/pseuds/LostBlogger_JenBleu
Summary: A child refugee from the Fire Nation's war, Kai learned early in his life that nothing in life is certain. His destiny, he believes, is to find and take revenge on the man who destroyed his home. But destiny is a fickle thing, and if nothing is certain, who can you trust?





	Tea Leaves and Thieves

**Author's Note:**

> Something to get this started. Enjoy.

Fire has many sounds. There’s the wood-smoke campfire, crackling logs under a starlit night sky, friends and family gathered around a simple dinner telling stories. There’s the dry hot air of burning paper, of dark, hidden secrets never to be revealed, of lies taken to the grave. There’s the bitter tang and sharp pop of wet wood, the snap of pine sap coming to a boil while the scent of winter hangs in the air.

And there’s the sound of screams, of thatched roofs caving in, of children crying and villages turning to dust. Those are the sounds that cut through the night, that weave their way into memories and nightmares.

That night, those were the sounds of the fire. The first shouts split the still night air, waking the rest of Kai’s village. Everyone scrambled to their feet, groggy and half-asleep, not entirely comprehending what happened until they stepped outside and into the bright, searing heat of a thousand red flames. The streets were bright as daylight, but the flickering shadows and the roar of the fire dispelled any illusion of peace. As if the screams didn’t already.

The villagers did their best to put out the fire, but there were forces other than nature fighting their efforts. The people scrambled back from the outskirts, trapped inside the village by men-shaped monsters in red and black. They couldn’t get to the river, and there’s only so much dust and rock can do to put out a fire. They tried to fight, tried to defend their home from the demons, but the fire proved to be too much for them. Person after person fell to the ground, broken, burned, or unable to breathe through the smoke. Slowly, slowly, the screams faded. Crying took their place and soon enough, the night swallowed even that sound.

Kai recalled every instant of that night. His father rushed him out of town as soon as the yelling began. “Kai,” he said, holding his son’s shoulders, “Run. Run and don’t look back. Whatever you hear, do not come back.” Xiu pushed his son toward the forest. “Run!” he commanded. Kai hadn't understood what was happening, so he ran. But he stopped. He watched from the tree line as the people he loved fell to fire and hate. He watched until he couldn’t stand another second. Then he ran for good.

Kai had been just ten years old when his home burned to the ground. That day remained his most prominent memory of fire. The scent of a campfire made him sick, the stench of the smoke and burning flesh came rushing back at the first sign of flame for the next four years of his life. By sixteen, he could stand to see a fire without entering a flashback. But the red and black uniforms of the soldiers walking away from his burning village was an image he would never un-see.

That night, he’d lost everything. By morning, the entire village had burned to the ground. By noon that day, there were five survivors. Kai was one of them. He returned the next morning just as the sun crested the horizon. After the others found him retching on the side of the road, he learned his family hadn’t been as lucky as him. If you could call that lucky.

They spent the next weeks burying the dead. Even with their abilities of earthbending, the multitude of bodies prevented anything such as “timely” burials. Kai recalled to this day the face of each and every man, woman, and child they’d buried that day.

He could recall the faces and names of the ones he worked alongside, though they went their separate ways long ago. Girish had been one of his closest friends as a child, a young boy with a heart of gold. He’d became an Earth Kingdom soldier – and died on the front lines. Hailin, his cousin, died from an undeterminable illness a few months after that day – or maybe she just stopped fighting. Qinghai and Anju simply vanished into the darkness one night, gradually fading away from the others. Or perhaps Kai had been the one to vanish. After this much time, he wasn’t entirely sure. 

He’d once been afraid of the night, terrified the soldiers in red would return. Now he knew better. Now he knew the warriors in red were soldiers of the Fire Nation, not demons with control of darkness and flame – though they were close enough. Now he knew that his village had been a casualty of war, just one of many Earth Kingdom villages and towns to be turned to ash and dust. That didn’t mean he forgave, and it certainly didn’t mean he forgot.

No, it made it that much worse. Knowing there were other people, other children, who’d lost just as much as he infuriated Kai beyond belief. He was thirteen years old in a refugee camp and he swore to discover the man who burned his village and to exact revenge for each and every death he’d ever caused. He was on his own now, sixteen years old and making a life for himself through thievery and highway robbery. And nowhere close to knowing who he had to find - who he had to kill.


End file.
